PEERtrainer

Easy Dessert Idea That Is Also Fairly Healthy: Hot Apple Sundae

We have been asked for a lot more focus on recipes, and this is one that was very popular. We have posted it before. I got it from my mom and I am not sure where she got it from. But it is a good one. Please feel free to share your variations of this either on the comments section of the blog or on the facebook post comments. Btw- we are working on getting all of the recipes we have talked about over the years in one place. stay tuned.....

 

Easy Way To Eat Healthy: How To Prepare A Filling Healthy Meal In 2 Minutes

This is a VERY short video where I show you the containers that I keep in my fridge, and what I keep in the containers. For me it is an ideal way to make sure I have EASY access to food during my very busy week. I have started to soak and cook my own beans. It is cheaper and a lot tastier. Just soak them over night and then cook them in the morning while you are getting ready for work, kids to school or whatever. 

Snacks That Fill You Up Without The Guilt

I saw this in the community and couldn't help but repost some of the responses here:

1) Bake pita chips with Picante medium salsa. I eat just 5-6 chips and it gets rid of my craving to eat potato chips.
2) Dried fruit bars at Traders joe. I love the passion fruit one.
3) Yoplait yogurt original with blueberries.

My mom swears by trader joe's popcorn.  It's one point if you're on counting Weight Watchers Points and it's a HUGE bag.  She says it takes her such a long time to eat that by the time she's done, she's ready to go to bed.

I personally like to get a combo of fat/protein/carbs and anything that fits within what I call "diet fusion" (Here's what diet fusion means.)  My favorite is a table spoon of peanut butter spread on each bite of a banana.  A friend of mine has cashew butter on celery.  Black beans and salsa.  Yum!!

Your best bet is to get something you like, that is satisfying, and gives you the energy to turn away from the food and back to something that is engaging.  Let me know your favorites.

Jackie

Things To Keep In Your Freezer and Fridge

This is another video I put together to show you the kinds of staples I like to keep in my freezer and fridge. I have multiple objectives here.

1. Foods that fill me up and help me lose weight

2. Things that I can give the kids easily and quickly that are also good for them

3. Foods that are nutrient dense and help my family get as many micronutrients as they can.

I only featured five foods- another staple of our fridge is Bolthouse Farms Vedge Juice. It tastes great, is packed with micronutrients and phytochemicals and makes it really easy for members of my family to consume high doses of nutrients, quickly.

Easy and Healthy Low WW Point and Calorie Snack Idea

We were just in a Whole Foods with the kids, and we met a woman who was giving out samples of a new line of almond butter and peanut butter called Justin's Nut Butter. It is a new company started by someone named Justin. As it turned out, his mom was the woman giving out the samples. Nice mom!

There are a lot of makers of various nut butters, and we buy the Whole Foods brand cashew butter regularly. It tastes great and it is cheap. But what struck us about Justin's Nut Butter is that they make 100 calorie squeeze packs that are flavored with things like organic maple sugar and organic honey. So they taste really good, and it is sometimes hard to get peanut butter to taste good without a ton of jelly.

The Maple Almond Butter was particularly good. (Almond butter is relatively high in calcium, so for people who are allergic to dairy and are looking for added sources of calcium, Almonds and almond butter are something to always keep in mind.)

I always tell people to always have healthy snacks handy, to prepare ahead of time for emergencies. These little packs seem like a great idea to keep in your desk or purse or glove compartment. If you can get your hands on an apple or a banana, squeeze one of these packs on the apple or banana and you have a great healthy snack. It will give you energy, you know exactly what the portion is, you get the benefit of an organic product, you get a piece of fruit in.

I think Justin's mom mentioned that each pack was about .59 cents. Add that to the cost of a banana or an apple and you have a pretty cheap snack as well. People always want to know how to eat healthy for cheap and eat organic for cheap. If you know where to look you can always find things that fit this requirement.

Getting a portion controlled product that tastes great and is super healthy can be one of those nice small wins I always talk about. So next time you are in Whole Foods or near one, get some of Justin's squeeze packs and add them to your emergency food stash. It is also a way to support a small business owner and kudos to the people at Whole Foods who brought Justin and his products in.

I also broke out my copy of Joel Fuhrman's Eat For Health to look up what he thinks about nut products. He pointed out that you don't want to overeat them, but that there are studies that show an inverse relationship between nut consumption and body weight, and that nuts and seeds help suppress the appetite. 

Making sure to add an apple or a banana to the mix in the snack makes it taste great. Fruit in the morning for energy and then fruit with a little nut butter in the afternoon to help keep you full and energized is a great strategy. The squeeze packs themselves are 2 Weight Watchers points even with the added oil and fruit is minimal points impact. So this could be one of those things that you incorporate on a regular basis.

I'll keep an eye out for things like this, and if you see something, let me know in the comments section or email me if you are getting the Tip Of The Day newsletter

How To Make Vegetables Taste Good: How Even The Ones You Don't Like Can Taste Extraordinary

The title of this post should read, "How to Make Vegetables You Don't Like Taste Extraordinary without Butter and Cheese but that was too long.  Butter and Cheese make everything taste extraordinary.  The real challenge is how to make green beans taste good without it.

I was with a friend of mine the other day and she mentioned that her two boys ate an entire plate of green beans. I can't even eat an entire plate of green beans, no matter how good they are for you.  I don't like the taste.  

Then, as I was eating dinner with her family, I watched exactly what she did: She placed a bowl of soy sauce next to the plate for one son and a small bowl of freshly squeezed lemon for the other.  Brilliant. 

She chose the condiment that they loved the most and her boys, with their new "finger" food, started dipping away.  I had never thought of it.  I've always dipped fresh broccoli in mustard; it tastes like you're eating hot dogs.  It does!  Try it and let me know if you agree.  The trouble with mustard is that my daughter still likes it, but when my 5 year old decided that he didn't like mustard, there went my vegetable strategy.  

My friend Laurie helped me rediscover all the ways that you can make food you don't love, taste like food you can love. Since I'm no different than my children, this was a great realization for me - what other condiments do I like so I can eat green beans and like them?  I thought I'd list a few here to give us all some ideas:

- Low sodium soy sauce with wasabi:  I happen to love this stuff in my sushi, but I haven't tried it on it's own.  If you're allergic to wheat, stay away.  My friend's 7 year old loves it.

- Ketchup: They have organic ketchup now, heinz makes it without the corn syrup.  Warning - it doesn't taste as good but if you're children don't know the difference yet, it might be perfect.

- Mustard - my favorite standby:  There are so many varieties now that you can most likely find one you like.  I love the standard Dijon but honey mustard might be a great dip.

- Chutney: my friend used to be addicted to this stuff.  It is an acquired taste.

- Salsa - You can get some great tomatoes and just great taste in general.  There are also some mild kinds without all the onions and peppers for the children.

- Fresh squeezed lemon and wasabi: my husband has a wheat allergy so he invented this.  It tastes amazing and really "fresh". 

- Mashed up avocado with lemon: takes a little more preparation but kids usually love avocado and you're getting a huge extra dose of vitamin C.  If you have an extra 5 minutes, it's totally worth it. 

- Lemon/mustard/garlic dressing: again, takes a little extra time so this isn't necessarily the best standby but you might want to try it when you're having a big sit down dinner.

- Strawberry with soy milk: mix it up in the blender and make sure you use frozen strawberries.  It becomes a strawberry sauce and it's excellent with fruit.

If you have any, please add them! (Here's what other people are doing)  I'm on my way to buy wasabi....

We also have a nice discussion going in our community on how to make vegetables for people who just don't like them. Lots of very practical suggestions there.

March 1, 2011 Update: We probably need to drop the low sodium soy sauce suggestion here, or change it to a wheat free option. Since I wrote this I have discovered that many people will benefit from a serious reduction in wheat in their diets. In fact, all gluten products are on the right side of the new PEERtrainer Cheat System. If you have not yet downloaded your free copy, you can still do so here.